Qoliqoli access fees by March

Serafina Silaitoga
Tuesday, January 30, 2018

MINISTER for Fisheries Semi Koroilavesau hopes to introduce the new qoliqoli access fees by March.

He said the documents and all necessary papers that contained details of the proposed access fees were with the Solicitor-General. "I wanted the fees to be effective from December 2017 but we were still working on the papers and that has been submitted to the office of the Solicitor-General," Mr Koroilavesau said. "So once the process has been completed with the Solicitor-General, we will then submit it to Cabinet for final endorsement. When that is done, then the new access qoliqoli fees will come into effect and I hope to do that by March."

Mr Koroilavesau said when the new access fees were introduced, all fishermen and those who earned an income from the qoliqoli would need to pay the new fees. However, he said fishermen could continue with fishing activities using their existing valid fishing licences.